To Ponder a Wall
by haajoo master
Summary: Ajax was a normal kid, going to a magnet school in NYC.I mean, he's got ADHD, but that's more or less normal, right?What happens after he forgets to take his medication one day? Read to find out. Pretty typical OC fic. Set 20 or so years after the war. Review however you want, I don't care.Blast me with a flamethrower, man. Just review, kay?IMPORTANT:FIRST 3 CHAPTERS SUCK!
1. The Boy Who Made A Mistake

**This is my first full length story. At least, I hope it will be. I'm not sure how much motivation I have for writing this WAY overused plot line. Sorry. But, please review!**

**IMPORTANT: THERE IS CURSING**

**ALSO IMPORTANT: FIRST THREE CHAPTERS SUCK EGGS**

**MOST IMPORTANT:FOURTH CHAPTER IS GOOD**

**Disclaimer:I do not own the PJO series or any related works.**

* * *

I stopped running for a moment, just to catch my breath. I leaned against what seemed to be an ancient oak tree, towering over me.

"Strange," I thought out loud, "I didn't think trees this old still existed."

Soon I heard footsteps, running behind, chasing me.

I limped as I pushed off from the relic of a tree, but I soon forced myself into a trot, and eventually broke out into a full on run.

I cursed as I struggled with my backpack. I had put two forty pound weights in it this morning, along with my schoolwork. All in all it had to have weighed about a hundred pounds. Of course, I hadn't expected to have to run for my life.

I thought it would just be another boring Wednesday; going to classes for eight hours, then singing at Men's Choir - my stepfather had made me join - then going to Robotics, then walking home.

What I did _not_ expect to happen was to be attacked by those... _things_. I could have easily outran them if it wasn't for the weights in my backpack, but if I ditched my backpack, I'm sure those things would have torn it to shreds, along with my precious schoolwork. It would take me _years_ to make all that work up.

Perhaps I should explain.

My name is Tiergan MacDonald, but my friends call me Ajax. A particularly nerdy kid who was into Greek mythology had called me that when I was in the second grade, and I suppose the name stuck. After doing some research, even I accepted it. Nobody knows how to pronounce Tiergan anyways.

I had lived my whole life in Wyoming, from birth till the eighth grade. Supposedly my stepfather had met my mother on a business trip to Scotland, and was so taken with her beauty that he had hauled her back with him. He was hardly even mad when he found out that she had been pregnant with me for two months before they met.

She said she had gotten drunk and slept with the first person she had seen.

Needless to say, he never buys her any drinks. He's a pretty cool guy I guess.

Of course, because my mom had never been married, he wasn't technically my stepdad, just not my biological father. He was the only 'father figure' I had in my life, but I never felt any real connection to him. I wasn't even surprised when they told me he wasn't my real dad, although I have never called him anything other than Daddy to his face.

Back to the matter at hand.

I have a sort of orange red hair that my mother despised. She said it made me look Irish. I could really care less.

I'm 6'2", or maybe 6'3", I haven't checked in a while. Not since I started living alone.

My stepfather was basically rich, but he and Mom were both tied down to jobs in Wyoming. So, when I tested into a magnet school in New York, I was shipped off to live on my own, in a nice apartment, bills paid for a full four years. I had it easy.

Anyways, I'm a sophomore in high school. I have severe ADHD, but I take medication for it. At least, I usually do. This morning I had been running late and forgot.

What I didn't forget was the weights. Ah yes. The weights. You're probably sitting there, thinking to yourself, "Why does he have weights? That seems like a stupid thing to do. And how can he even carry a hundred pound backpack? That's unrealistic!" To which I say, "One question at a time!"

First off, let me relay to you the story of a Greek guy. He probably had a name, but I've forgotten it. Anyway, this Greek guy took a newborn calf and lifted it over his head one hundred times. He did this every day. As the calf grew, so did his strength, until finally, the calf became a full-grown bull. And that is the story of how some Greek guy became the only Greek guy in Greece to be able to lift a bull over his head.

I decided to try this, and every ten weeks I added another ten pounds to my backpack. This was the first day of eighty pounds. Unfortunately, I had never tried running. Let me tell you, my back hurt like hell. And I'm pretty sure that covers all the questions! Now, back to the story!

**(A/N:If you do this, you WILL suffer irreversible spine damage! Never do this! Ever! You don't want to end up like Mr. Crocker, do you? NEVER EVER DO THIS!)**

Before I had even gotten to school, those monsters - which I later learned, were Laistrygonian Giants - had found me, started licking their lips, and ran towards me. All I could do was run away from those 8-foot tall weirdos, at least while carrying a hundred pounds.

It was like a sick joke. Like someone had said, "_Oh, you made one tiny mistake? Whoops! Your life is now over. Have a nice day!_"

Anyways, I ran out of the city, after what seemed like hours - and probably was - and came to a forest. I figured that I could lose them in the forest. There were tons of low-hanging branches, and they were much taller than me.

Which brings you up to speed.

* * *

As I ran through the forest, I was surprised by the number of roots.

I had to slow my speed considerably to avoid tripping on one of them, which probably would have hurt a lot, considering the extra weight I was carrying.

For about the millionth time, I wondered why those giants were chasing me.

Why had it happened today? The day I forgot my meds?

All this thinking made me lose my focus, and I tripped over a root.

I somersaulted through the air, my backpack carrying me another yard or two, until I smashed headfirst into a tree trunk. It bent forwards a little, breaking my fall. It wasn't as big as the other trees, maybe only ten feet tall. But that's not the bad part.

My backpack exploded, papers flying everywhere, ink smearing on the damp ground.

I layed there, dazed, certain that my life was over. If those giants didn't eat me, which was starting to become a very distinct possibility, my teachers would murder me.

The fact that I valued my teacher's papers more than I valued my own life filled me with a rage that is hard to describe. The best way, I think, would be to say that it was like a killer migraine that you knew would go away if you destroyed something. All you can think of is throwing something at a wall. Hard.

Which wasn't actually too far from what happened.

Only, the something was the tree I had hit, partially loosened from the ground, and the wall was four Laistrygonian Giants, standing in a line, smacking their lips hungrily.

I suppose that fear, adrenaline, and overwhelming rage, all at the same time, was what did it.

I screamed as I wrenched the tree from the soil, and threw it with all my rage, trunk-first, at the giants, who were now staring in disbelief at what I had just done.

It flew with blinding speed, impaling all four Laistrygonian Giants, and pinning them against another tree. They disappeared in a cloud of yellow dust, but I wasn't watching.

"Oh my God. I'm a murderer. Oh my God. What am I going to do? I just killed four people. Jesus Christ. I am a murderer. Fu-" I was cut off by my fainting.

* * *

When I woke up, it was just past dawn, usually when I wake up for school.

Without thinking I put on my backpack, weights still inside the mangled mess of fabric.

I had been walking aimlessly for about ten minutes before I realized I was alone in the woods.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

Crap.

I turned around and I could still see the tree I had thrown impaled in another tree, but the Giants were nowhere to be found.

I looked down at my hands.

Had I really done that?

Me?

I put my thoughts aside and started walking, backpack still on my shoulder, weights still in my back pack.

Oh lord did I walk.

I must have walked for at least a week, but I lost track after about six nights. I never took breaks, except when I crossed a stream. Everybody's got to drink. But apparently my body didn't think that sleep was as important.

I was blazingly hungry, but all the trees were dead and all the animals were hibernating.

I had to keep walking.

I had to get away from the crimes I thought I had committed.

I walked all the way out of the forest.

When I saw the road, I thought I might die. I was okay with that I think. I had finally gotten away. I was ready for this to be my life's accomplishment. I simply layed down by the side of the road, and slept.

* * *

When I awoke, I was in a bed.

At first I thought it had all been a nightmare, to my great relief, until I realized it wasn't my bed.

I cursed out loud.

A man in a wheelchair motored into the room. He looked kind enough.

Whether he chose to ignore the curse, or whether he just didn't hear me, I'll never know.

"Well, well, well. He has finally awoken from his slumber!" said the man in the wheel chair.

"Hey there Rip Van Winkle! Have a good twenty year nap?" joked a male voice from outside of the room.

I looked with fear at the man in the wheelchair, but he just smiled. I realized it was only a joke.

When I finally managed to say something, I realized that I had the deepest morning voice I had ever heard.

"Where's my backpack?" is what I said.

"Over there," he said, pointing to the corner, "but more importantly, do you feel well enough to return to your fellow Romans?"

My fellow Romans? What in the world was he talking about?

"I'm sure they are very worried. You have been out for over two weeks."

"Two weeks!" I cried, realizing how much make-up work I would have.

Then I remembered. The giants. I had already been gone for three, maybe four weeks. And I had murdered them. I could never go back, no matter how long I waited.

I looked at these people. Would they hate me if they knew what I had done?

Would I have to hide from them?

Probably.

I had made up my mind. I would never tell anyone.

"Yes, two weeks. Your body probably needed time to recuperate, after... you did whatever it is that you did. Here, have some nectar."

Nectar? Was he serious? Like nectar was going to give me two weeks of my life back.

Almost spitefully I reached out to grab the glass, and drank heartily.

It was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted, almost like... no, exactly like Kool-Aid, only with way, way, WAY too much sugar in it. It was the best thing in the world.

The man in the wheelchair looked like his brain was being sucked out through his ears, as he watched me down the whole glass.

I heard the voice that had called me Rip Van Winkle mutter, "Holy Hermes!"

Me and the man in the wheelchair were both too stunned to speak, although I wasn't quite sure why he was so stunned.

Then I started to feel woozy. I fell back down into bed, and my brain went into overdrive. I was thinking so fast it was unbelievable. Then I started thinking too fast. Way too fast. And it was only going faster and faster. Pretty soon my mind felt like it was going to explode. I couldn't do anything but stare at the ceiling.

The pain was unbelievable. I suffered through it for what seemed like years, but was probably only seconds, until I fainted again.

* * *

**So? What did you think? Don't worry, I won't make Ajax a Gary Sue, though it's hard not to. And he won't be the son of some obscure god, like Chaos or something. But please tell me what you thought!  
**

_**REVIEW!**_


	2. The Girl With Two Eyes

**So. I forget if I said I'd probably only update on the weekends, but I'm having midterms, so naturally I'm spending our three half days writing instead of studying. Hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO series or any related works.**

**WARNING: CURSE WORDS WILL BE USED! THE F-WORD AND S-WORD ARE USED! IF VULGARITY OFFENDS YOU, I OFFER MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES. **

**READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED**

* * *

When I woke up, I was still too weak to open my eyes. My ears were fine though, and I could hear a conversation just starting up. I listened intently to what they were saying:

"Well clearly he's not a Roman. No one with any knowledge of the gods could be stupid enough to drink an entire glass of nectar."

"Yeah, but then who could he be? He's way over thirteen, and way ripped!"

"How did he even survive this long with no training? And how did our satyrs miss him?"

"I don't know man. What do you think he was doing over by the side of the road in the first place?"

"I'm not sure, but someone checked out the forest, and about thirty miles in they saw a tree."

"Uh, duh! It's a forest!"

"You didn't let me finish! They found a tree _impaled in another tree!_ They pulled it out with their ATV and it was stuck in there four feet!"

"Holy crap dude!"

"I know, right?"

"Remind me not to get on _his _bad side!"

"Ditto, man, ditto."

"Well, I'll see ya. I've got archery practice."

"Uggggh. Archery."

"I know, right?"

After the two voices stopped, my ears were ringing with all this new information.

_Gods? Satyrs? Training? Archery? Four feet?_

It sounded like they were talking about Greek mythology. I hadn't paid much attention to the old myths after I had gotten sucked into research about my nickname, but I knew enough to know that satyrs were A, those little goat people, and B, not real.

Soon I had fallen back asleep.

* * *

When I came to for the last time, I felt good. Real good. So good in fact, that before I even opened my eyes, I sat up way too fast and immediately hit the person who was standing over me in their face.

With my face. In fact, I was pretty sure I had hit their lips with my lips.

_We kissed. I kissed someone. I just had my first kiss. Woohoo!_

Before I could leap out of bed and jump for joy, I felt a sharp pain in my jaw. I had just been punched in the face. Hard.

_Weird. I thought girls slapped. Oh my god. What if it wasn't a girl? Please tell me I didn't just have my first kiss with a _dude_!_

_Not that there's anything wrong with that! I just personally don't want that. But I have to see if it was a girl or a dude! Please no-_

I was cut off by a female voice, thank the stars.

"You fucking bastard. You stole my first kiss from me. You. Evil. Asshole!"

She sounded pretty. I decided to take a chance and look at this angry girl.

When I opened my eyes, well... Let me tell you, I was _not_ disappointed.

She was the most beautiful person I had ever seen.

Her jet black hair cascaded down her shoulders like a perfectly timed slinky launch down a very long flight of stairs.

Her nose fit just right on her face like a piece of tape that was exactly the right size.

And her face. What a face. She was covered in acne and pimples, but so was I, and I knew they would go away. Her acne made her twice as beautiful, I thought, because there wasn't even a hint of make up on her face. She didn't care about it, unlike a lot of the girls at my high school, who slathered their faces in concealer daily.

Her lips were situated just right, like when the stream of water from the water fountain is the perfect height, not so low you have to hunch over, not so high it splashes you in the face, but right in the middle, shooting water directly into your mouth.

Her chin was perfection itself, like when you get a perfect score on a test everyone else fails.

Her forehead was nice.

But her eyes were the craziest things ever.

They were two different colors, and I don't mean in the same eye.

Her left eye was sea green, the light bouncing off it in a way that I thought was reminiscent of the ocean, or some reasonable facsimile.

It was glowering at me with intent to kill, but it was easy to tell that there was great kindness in her. I could tell that if she had truly wanted to kill me I would have been dead already. I'm not saying she wasn't furious, but I wasn't her enemy, and her eye knew it.

Her other eye, her right eye, was something completely different.

It was a stormy grey, which made the whole eye thing even weirder, because I didn't know that someone's eyes _could_ be grey. Nonetheless, it was as intriguing, if not more, than her left eye. This eye seemed much more angry at me than the other. I realized with a start that it seemed as though her green eye was holding back her grey eye, keeping it from attacking me, which was far too funny to ignore. Before I could stop myself, I laughed out loud.

Big mistake.

It was at that moment that I remembered why her incredible eyes were boring through me.

We had both just had our first kisses.

And she was most definitely unhappy about that.

She slowly pulled back her right arm, her face as calm as she could make it.

Before she could throw her punch, I shot up and kissed her.

Before you start hating me for being a pervert, let me say that it was not me who kissed her.

Well, alright, it _was_ me, but it wasn't _me_.

I wasn't in control of my own body, and I definitely did not do that of my own free will, but I can't say I didn't enjoy kissing the most beautiful girl in the world.

We were both surprised, but her surprise quickly turned to rage. Whatever her green eye had been thinking that made it less angry had clearly been forgotten. Her two eyes were now on the same level, and they were getting angrier by the millisecond. Any part of her that thought the first kiss was an accident quickly turned into pure rage.

The force that had caused me to kiss her suddenly slammed me back down onto the bed, much too hard for my liking, but the girl clearly didn't notice.

She changed the trajectory of her still drawn back fist, and I glanced at where she was aiming.

Before I even had time to gulp, she launched her fist at a super human speed directly at my groin. I didn't think anything could top my nectar experience in the pain department, but she managed. I nearly blacked out again but a second punch to my ribs brought me back to reality. I didn't hear them crack, which was good, but I did hear something.

A high pitched voice whispered to someone, "Dude, that was hilarious! Do it again! Do it again!"

Whoever those hobgoblins were, the girl didn't seem to notice them. She drew back her arm to punch me again, but I used all my strength to cover her mouth with my hand, which she bit, before I was forced up again.

I smashed into the back of my hand several times before those evil goblins noticed. I could hear them curse, and apparently the girl could too.

"Oh shit! We're in big trouble dude! I think Tess saw us!"

_Tess. So that's her name. It's as beautiful as her._

"Oh shit man! Run for it!"

I could hear footsteps, and Tess gave me a strange look, almost like she was evaluating me, before she apparently thought it was too much trouble.

Tess ran after them, yelling at the top of her lungs, "Come back here you Stoll Trolls! I swear I'll end you for this!"

All I could do was groan in pain as I watched the most beautiful girl I had ever seen run out of the room.

Even though Tess had just assaulted me, I wished with all my being that I would get to see her again.

"You will, son. You definitely will." said a man's voice. I looked over at where I thought the voice originated, but there was no one there.

I could smell something though. It was faint but very defined, although I couldn't identify it because I had never smelled anything like it before.

I tried to fall back asleep, but Tess was all I could think about. Questions swirled in my mind.

_Who in the world is Tess? Why was she leaning over me in the first place? What the hell is a stole troll? Who, and what, had forced me to kiss her? And why did she taste like books?_

* * *

**So? What did you think? Please tell me what you thought! I know Tess is technically an OC, as are the 'Stoll Trolls', but they are clearly less OCish than Ajax, for obvious reasons. Anyways, PLEASE REVIEW! I haven't gotten a single review yet, on ANY of my stories! You might not think reviewing is important, but trust me, it is. Even if you follow and/or favorite, a single review is AT LEAST ten times more gratifying. I don't care if it's just a 'cool' or even a psychotic rant about how I should be thrown in jail for being an awful writer, I still want you to!  
**

**REVIEW!**

**REVIEW!**

**REVIEW!**

**This concludes my gargantuan A/N. Thanks for readin'!**

**~haajoo master**


	3. Special Skills

**This chapter is going to suck. Just a warning. I actually wrote the chapter after it before writing this one, and I just had no motivation whatsoever for this after writing that heartbreaker. Don't worry, that chapter is three times longer than this one, and a _lot_ better written. Not that anyone is actually going to read this story. Last chapter had less than 5 views when I wrote this.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO series or any related works.**

* * *

After I had been thinking a while, the man in the wheelchair motored on in.

He had a worried expression, or maybe it was confused. I'm not sure.

"Good morning. I expect that Tess has explained the situation." he said, although it sounded a lot like a question.

"Ummm. No. There was an... incident, with two people Tess referred to as... um.. the stole trolls?"

He threw up his hands, clearly very annoyed.

"I knew their children would not fare any better than them." he muttered to himself.

"Well then, I suppose I should call Tess back here, shouldn't I? Normally I would explain it to you myself, but there was recently another, shall we say, disagreement, between Mr. D and Percy. I am growing tired of their antics. Before I go, they call me Chiron. What do they call you?"

I was perplexed. Not many people were named after Greek mythology. "Do you mean Chiron, like, as in the great centaur teacher of heroes?"

He looked pleased with himself, but before I could wonder why he said, "Yes. Just like that. Do you know a lot about Greek mythology?"

"Yeah, but only because I was given the name Ajax in second grade."

Chiron looked stuck in his own personal world as he said, "Interesting. Very interesting." while motoring out of the room, probably to find Tess.

My heart skipped a beat.

Tess was coming back!

I was so caught up in my thoughts about Tess that I didn't notice when she walked in.

She knocked on the open door with the back of her hand as she asked quietly, "May I come in?"

My chest nearly imploded as she said that. I had never seen her not angry, and I expected her to be furious when she saw me. I did, after all, steal her first kiss from her. I knew she was kind from her eyes, but I hadn't actually seen her like so. She was even more beautiful than before. I could barely breathe.

_No. I have to stop. She'll just be another hopeless crush. Stop for your own good._

_Shut up._

"Sure. Go right ahead."

She looked grateful. She closed the door as she walked inside, then sat in the chair next to my bed.

Quickly, I said, "I'm so sorry about what happened earlier. It's all my fault."

"It wasn't you. It was those damned Stolls. Stupid twelve year old brats."

Determined to apologize, I told her, "But I could have stopped them! I could've..."

"How could you have? You didn't know it was magic controlling you."

"Magic?"

"Yes. Let me explain."

"Okay?"

"The Greek gods are real. You are a demigod. Like Herakles, or Theseus. Welcome to Camp Halfblood."

Instead of saying 'What?' or something of that nature, I really wanted to impress Tess.

"That explains the giants." I said bitterly. Those stupid giants had destroyed my life.

Tess paled when I mentioned giants, and I thought I had done something wrong. I wanted nothing more than to pull her close to me and tell her everything was all right. If I could hardly breathe before, I was suffocating at this point. However, she regained her composure and I regained my ability to breath. Sort of.

"Ah, you must mean Laistrygonians."

"Sounds about right."

"I'm surprised you're taking this so well."

"Well, I knew something was up with those eight foot tall creeps. Also, I trust you. It's strange, but even though I just met you, I would trust you with my life." I said. And I meant it. There was something about Tess that made me trust her.

"Thank you." she said, blushing quite a lot. She changed the subject quickly. "We've got to fill out this form."

"Alright. Fire away."

"Name."

"Ajax MacDonald."

"Date of birth."

"April first, 2019."

"Hey me too!"

"No way!"

"Way."

"That's so cool."

"Height."

"Six foot three."

"Weight."

"Last time I checked I was 210, but, I doubt that now."

"Godly parent." Tess looked very sad when she said this.

"No clue."

"Obviously. Duh. We'll figure that out later."

"Okay."

"Year round or just summer."

"I don't know."

"Well that's it for the written stuff. We'd better do the skills tests."

Skills? I didn't think think I had any skills.

"Alright."

"Follow me."

When I first tried to get out of the bed, I instantly fell flat on my face. So much for impressing Tess.

"Need some help?" she asked, holding out her hand. I took it eagerly. Simply touching her was nearly enough to electrocute me.

I followed her out of the room, slowly at first, then getting faster. We exited the room, walked down a short hallway, and exited the building.

"Archery is first. Follow me."

I followed her to the archery range. People seemed to avoid us. I originally thought it was because they feared Tess, but now I know that wasn't the case.

When we got there, I tried to shoot some arrows. It was very easy to pull the string back and aim, but it was like there was a force field around the target. I shot thirty arrows, and not a single one connected with the target.

"Archery: Nonexistant." she said as she circled something on the paper on the clipboard.

"Hey thanks a lot!" I cried indignantly.

"What? That's an actual category. Although I'm not sure if it's ever been used."

"Whatever. What's next?"

"Sword fighting."

"How do you test that?"

"Against the instructor, of course." Tess explained, looking very proud. My heart nearly popped out of my chest. That's a good look on her.

As we walked to the sword fighting arena, a group of people seemed to be leaving. They parted to avoid Tess and I.

When we got their, I saw a rugged black-haired man drying off with a towel. As we got closer, I realized that his eyes were the same sea green as one of Tess's.

She looked up at him and asked, "Can you test this guy?" I felt kind of sad that she had referred to me as 'this guy' but I didn't have much time to think about it.

"Sure." said the man. "Just send him up."

I climbed up, and Tess slid me a sword. I picked it up and got ready to fight.

"Whenever you're ready." he said.

"Okay. I'm ready."

He disarmed me in nothing flat.

"Hey! Go easy on me. I've never had any experience."

"I _am _going easy on you. A gradeschooler could've done better than that." That made me really angry.

I picked up my sword and got ready. I nodded and he knocked my sword out of my hand again.

* * *

After about six days of similar tests, it was discovered that I did not, in fact, have any skills.

As I walked back to the undecided cabin where I slept, I cursed my godly dad.

"Why do I have no skills!" I yelled at the clouds.

A familiar voice spoke from behind me.

"The skills you have cannot be tested. They must be discovered."

I turned around but no one was there. Only a faint but defined scent of something I had smelled only once before remained.

Tess walked by and said, "Capture the flag is tomorrow." She ran off.

I had to run to catch up.

* * *

**Sorry for how awful this is. I can't exactly ask you to review after a piece of crap like this, can I?  
**

**But the next chapter is a lot better I promise!**


	4. Capture the Flag

**Here is the first good chapter! Hope you like it!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the PJO series or any related works.**

* * *

It was finally Friday. Because I had woken up Saturday morning, I had just missed a sour defeat for Tess's team.

When I asked her about it, she had almost broken down into tears. I didn't think it was possible for someone to be that sore a loser, but in the back of my mind, something told me that losing wasn't what had upset her.

When the teams were called, I was surprised to hear Tess's name called when they were divvying out the undecideds.

I was one of the first undecided called. Apparently someone had told the red team captain about my exploits in the forest, and didn't want to miss out. Also, I was by far the oldest undecided, the oldest besides me being twelve.

I was shocked when Tess's name was called last for the red team, and everyone on the red team groaned. Tess simply stared at the ground, not looking up at any of her teammates. I decided it must have been a mistake. I would have to ask her about it later. Tess shuffled up next to me, and I could see that I was a solid foot taller than her. Everyone was told that we had fifteen minutes to prepare.

Tess and I, not being told what to do, shuffled off to somewhere in the forest. A few minutes before the conch blew, Tess glanced up at me. Her green eye was angry but her grey eye was worried.

"Where's your weapon, Ajax?" she asked me, slightly anxious.

"What weapon?" I asked, confused.

"Did you think this would be a normal game of capture the flag? We're demigods. Go get one from the armory! Hurry!" She seemed like she really wanted me to leave, which stung more than I'd like to admit. Did she think I would mess up?

Nonetheless, I sprinted off. towards the armory. The whole camp was deserted. Apparently _everyone_ was involved in this game. Before I had made it to the armory, the conch sounded, signalling the start of the match. I cursed and ran faster.

When I reached the armory, I realized I had no idea whatsoever what weapon I should get. I briefly considered a shotgun, before deciding that that seemed like cheating. I tried to figure out what would best suit me, but I really had no idea. I was about to take a random sword from one of the many barrels when a woman's voice startled me.

"You don't want that one, Tiergan." she said, with a hint of curiosity, as if she wanted to know what I would do next.

I spun around to see a beautiful thirty-some blonde woman. I realized that she had two startlingly grey eyes, the same color as Tess's one. I figured they were related.

"Then which one _do_ I want?" I asked. I was also wondering who she was, and why she was helping me, and why she wasn't helping with capture the flag game, but I figured she would tell me if she wanted to, and if not, I would ask her later. I needed her help desperately. I had no clue what I was doing.

"I like you," she said, "you don't ask questions you don't need to. Very mature. Very interesting."

"But, um, I still don't know what weapon to get." I asked, as politely as I could.

"And persistent too. Very interesting. I like you."

Before I could interrupt again, she said, "As to your weapon, Tiergan, if you would follow me."

This time I noticed. She hadn't called me Ajax. She called me Tiergan. I was _certain _I had introduced myself as Ajax.

She must've seen my perplexed look, because she added, "It's written on the tag of your underwear, Tiergan MacDonald."

My face got red as a beet. Damn my mother! She had never called me Ajax. She absolutely detested the nickname I had been given, saying it 'undermined my rich Celtic heritage.' She refused to accept anything that made me seem less Scottish. As I thought about how much she would have opposed this camp, I realized how much I missed her. How much I had left behind. I realized how worried she would be. She probably thought I was dead. And why did she insist on writing my name on my underwear anyways? She knew I lived alone, it's not like I could get them mixed up with someone else's. But I wasn't living alone, I was living in an undecided cabin with a bunch of eleven-year-olds. That reminded me of my mother again.

As I wiped a tear from my eye, I said, "Lead the way."

I thought she wanted to lead me somewhere outside the armory. There wasn't much to the small building, but she walked right past me towards the wall. I looked to see what she was doing, but she walked behind two barrels of spears and started to get shorter, a foot at a time. I realized there must have been stairs.

She suddenly stopped, and asked with a small smirk, "Coming?"

"Yeah!" I said. She laughed as I quickly followed her.

When I walked down the small spiral staircase, I was slightly surprised. I expected the second level to be just like the first, but there were it was a lot tidier, with many fewer weapons. Each weapon had its own shelf, with little plaques for each one, written in a language that I couldn't understand. I realized it must have been ancient Greek, but Tess had said that all Greek demigods could read ancient Greek, and the Romans could read Latin. I briefly entertained the thought that I was a Roman demigod, but I _definitely_ felt more Greek than Roman. The weapons had a slight glow to them, like they were hollow, and had bright lights in them. I doubted that, but that's what it looked like.

I pushed that thought aside as I joined the woman who looked suspiciously liked Tess in standing by the only thing not on a shelf.

It was a very large wooden box pushed up against the far wall, maybe ten feet wide, five feet long, and a foot tall. It had a plaque too, and I couldn't read it either.

The woman looked at the box with a sort of reverence, but I assume that she was more in awe of what the box contained. I thought It could have been a hoplite spear, or something, but I didn't have much time to guess because the woman opened the box, leaving no room for doubt.

"Yes, this might work." She muttered to herself, before turning around to look at me.

"This blade, for lack of a better translation, is called Ponderous." She said informatively.

And ponderous it was. The grip alone was nearly a yard long, and the enormous blade was about seven feet long. The blade was about a foot wide at the guard, and stayed the same width the whole sword up until about six inches from the end, where it tapered to a point. I thought it was incredibly atypical. Its ridiculous size aside, Greek swords were usually leaf shaped, occasionally half leaf, in the case of the Falcata. I had learned this when I tried to convince my parents to let me have a sword, which they didn't. I was admiring the skill required to forge something this massive when I remembered why I was here.

"You can't possibly expect me to use that! It must weigh five hundred pounds!" I shouted incredulously.

"More than that," She said with half a smirk, "at least a thousand. But if you can lift it it's yours. Which would be a miracle, but you won't know unless you try."

"You must be joking. I have no chance!" I yelled, which I immediately felt bad about.

"Look, normally I wouldn't even think of bringing an undecided in here. A lot of claimed campers don't even know about this room. It's filled with the most heavily enchanted weapons on the planet. I wouldn't have brought you down here if I didn't think you had a shot. So just try. Okay?" She smiled hopefully at me.

"Alright." I grumbled. I put my hands on the grip, which I hadn't realized was floating slightly off the ground until I put my fingers underneath it with no trouble at all.

I pulled up on it.

It didn't budge.

Which I expected.

"You didn't even try! Do it again."

"How'd you even get this in here?"

"Magic. Duh."

"Uggh."

"Try again."

"Fine."

"That's the spirit!"

I pulled up with all my strength this time, calling on every muscle in my body; arms first, then legs, then back, forearms, calves, fingers, even toes.

I thought I felt it move a little, but the woman said, "Are you even trying? Move over, let me do it."

'Is she stupid?' I thought to myself.

"Shut up!" I shouted, not giving up.

"It's obvious you can't do it. Let's go and find you a different weapon." she said. I was too focused to realize that she didn't say it with a resigned tone.

"Never!" I yelled. There was no way I was going to let this stupid chunk of metal beat me.

"Look, it's clearly much to heavy for you."

"No it's not!" This was getting personal now.

"Just give up!"

"No chance!" I thought she didn't want me to give up, and now I'm not good enough? This was ridiculous.

"Just grab a bow or something. I thought you were special, but it turns out you're just like everybody else. Just part of the mainstream."

I think that last bit was what pushed me over the edge. For as long as I can remember, my biggest goal in life was to be different. Not to conform. I didn't have to be better than everyone else, just not the same. When other people wore ankle socks, I wore crew socks. When other people wore athletic shorts, I wore cargo. I didn't even own a single pair of jeans. Everyone wore jeans. They were mainstream. I wasn't. I spent my entire life trying to break away from the mainstream. Now, to be called mainstream, by a strange woman I didn't know, just because I couldn't lift a sword that weighed over a thousand pounds, well... That was far too much for me to take lying down.

I was filled with a familiar, unstoppable rage. I let it consume me. All I could think about was throwing something heavy. At the moment, that thing was Ponderous. I screamed as I started to lift it, slowly. But I wasn't done raging. All I could think was that I was not lifting the thing in my hands nearly fast enough. I screamed even louder, if it was possible, and Ponderous seemed to respond. After about half a second, Ponderous was above my head. I didn't even realize that I had just sliced through the ceiling, because I was far too focused on throwing Ponderous to the ground in a massive swing. It flew down with blinding speed as it ripped straight through the ground like it wasn't even there.

At this point, I was no longer raging, and I was able to see that if Ponderous continued its arc and I didn't adjust for it coming back out of the ground, my arms would be ripped off my body. So, I turned as I controlled the immense momentum into coming out of the ground, slicing through Ponderous's box in the process. I quickly turned the flat of the blade parallel to the ceiling, so that it wouldn't cut into the ground again. When Ponderous finally stopped it's arc, I was very relieved.

I nearly fainted like I had the last time, but I remembered that Tess was waiting for me in the forest, which snapped me right back into reality.

The woman, now grinning wildly despite the fact I had just left an enormous scar in the ground and ceiling, walked past me and slapped a cheesy looking nametag like sticker right on the blade of Ponderous. It read, "PROPERTY OF: _" with Ajax scribbled in the blank in green crayon. I thought that made Ponderous look quite silly, and a low grumbling noise coming from the sword told me it agreed with me.

The woman stepped back, and Ponderous started shrinking. And shrinking. And shrinking. Until finally it was the size and shape of a normal Greek sword, and the nametag was nowhere to be seen. I realized that that was incredibly convenient, all things considered. Just because I had lifted it once didn't mean I could carry it around all the time, and also, how exactly does someone carry a ten foot long sword? On their back?

The woman looked impressed and confused at the same time. "Huh. I didn't know it could do that."

I looked at her incredulously. "You mean no one has ever used it before?"

"I don't think so. It's only a few hundred years old. Herakles probably could have wielded it, but he was a god long before it was forged."

I had so many questions. Who had forged it? And why? And why did the camp have it? And why could I use it? Why was I chosen?

I would have asked those questions, but I realized that capture the flag was still, like, a thing, that was happening.

The woman smiled, unaware of my curiosity, and said, "Well, a promise is a promise. Ponderous is yours. Here."

She grabbed the sword, but soon realized that she could not lift it.

"You try." she said simply.

So I did, and it was just as heavy as it looked: a few pounds at most.

I lifted it easily, and the woman said, "It seems as though Ponderous has chosen you as its wielder. I don't think anyone else can lift it."

"Thanks."

"You are quite welcome. Do you want a scabbard for it?"

"Maybe later." I shouted as I ran up the stairs.

I paused at the door to the armory to shout back down, "Thanks again!"

I felt like I could do anything as I sprinted back to where I had left Tess. I wondered how long that had taken, and then a sickening thought entered my mind.

What if Tess had already been attacked?

I tried to forget that thought, but I still ran quite a bit faster.

As it turns out, I wasn't that far from the truth.

As I neared the spot that I had left Tess at, I was relieved when I saw her right where I had left her.

I was about to shout out to Tess when I heard a girl's voice.

"So this is where you've been hiding, half and half blood." Someone else laughed, but I didn't quite understand the joke. Why had this person called Tess a half and half blood? What did that mean? I crouched behind a tree and poked my head out a bit to get a good look at them.

There were five people including Tess. The four besides Tess were all girls; two from the blue team and two from the red team. Why were our teammates not taking out those blue teamers?

I didn't have much time to wonder before the head of the group, a brown haired girl a little older than me, from the blue team, spoke.

"I can't believe you had the nerve to even show your face after you lost the game for us last week."

There was a small sniffle before Tess spoke, with a small, incredibly sad voice that broke my heart as I gripped Ponderous a little tighter.

"I-I'm sorry."

"Sorry?! Sorry isn't going to turn eighteen straight losses into wins, is it, you filth?"

I gripped Ponderous a lot tighter now. This was no harmless harassment. I suddenly realized that this was what had caused Tess to react so violently when I asked her about capture the flag. These girls were going to get it.

Tess spoke once more, really on the edge of crying now.

"N-n-no. I-I just wan-wanted to-"

"Wanted to what? Help? Make things better? You can _help_ by leaving and never coming back, you bitch!" On bitch, she slapped Tess in the face hard enough to send her flying. I could see Tess just lying on the ground. I could hear her sobbing loudly now. I couldn't see her face, but I was sure that tears were flowing freely now. Looking back on it, it was a good thing I didn't see her face. Otherwise I might have killed them.

In my mind, those four girls were pure evil. No matter how awful Tess was at capture the flag, there was no way that she could be responsible for eighteen whole losses. Even if she was, this was no way to react. And I could tell this wasn't the first time it had happened. I think now that I know why they were so angry at Tess. Where Tess had a perfectly launched slinky, these girls' had tangled theirs up. Where Tess's tape was the right size, theirs were too small, or cut badly. Where Tess's water fountain stream was the right height, theirs had splashed them in the face. Where Tess got a perfect score, they had failed. Their foreheads were not nice.  
This incredible pettiness would have been enough to send me into a rage. But I had only had this revelation after the fight. Instead, it was Tess. Just the sight of her sobbing made me more than twice as angry as the previous two rages. I think it was the fact that one of the girls was much younger than the others, maybe twelve or thirteen, that gave me the time to turn the edge of Ponderous away from the girls.

Ponderous sensed my rage, and started to lengthen. I screamed and ran out from behind the tree, startling the girls to no end. They barely had time to raise their swords before I swung. The flat of Ponderous caught each one of the girls in the side as the weight behind the swing flung them nearly twenty feet away. I looked over at them, ready to fight them all, still in a rage. None of them moved. But I was still consumed by rage. I made four huge slashes in the ground before I trusted myself enough to go near Tess, and Ponderous shrunk to its smaller size.

Tess was still sobbing uncontrollably. She was in her own world. She hadn't noticed anything I had done. I could barely bring myself to do it, but I looked at her face.

The pain was unbelievable. I looked into her eyes, but she couldn't see me. What those girls had done to her went much deeper than a little emotional pain.

They had broken her.

All I could do was kneel by her, resting her head on my legs, and cry along with her.

I still have no idea who won the game of capture the flag.

* * *

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